Chapter 20 - THE FINAL CHAPTER - THE UNWRITTEN DRESSThat evening, after Eli had fallen soundly asleep upstairs in his bedroom—clutching his stuffed T-Rex under a mountain of cozy blankets—I walked down the hallway to my private home studio.
The room was bathed in the soft, warm glow of desk lamps. Canvases, fabric swatches, and sketchpads covered the oak work table.
I sat down in my comfortable leather chair, picked up a sharpened wooden pencil, and pulled a fresh, blank sheet of heavy sketch paper toward me.
My fingers hovered over the paper for a moment, remembering the narrow-backed wedding gown with the folded shoulder that had started this entire storm years ago.
That dress belonged to the past. It belonged to a ghost who had tried to steal my identity and a man who had tried to lock me in the basement of his ambition.
I pressed the pencil to the paper.
This time, I didn't sketch a wedding gown.
I sketched a new design—a structured, asymmetrical evening coat with sweeping lines, sharp lapels, and a bold, unbroken silhouette that looked forward into the infinite, untamed future.
Beneath the sketch, in clean, confident handwriting, I wrote my own signature:
Nora Caruso.
May you like
I smiled, leaned back in my chair, and listened to the gentle autumn wind rustling through the trees outside.
The story wasn't over. In fact, it was only just beginning.
